Protecting Her
by Burned Vamp
Summary: COMPLETE.Trunks POV. Vegeta sacrificed himself to destroy Buu. He failed. How does this affect his relationship with his family? Is Trunks unconsciously acting like the father he despises? From Buu to beloved, what made Trunks an almostantisocialite
1. Chapter I

_Protecting Her_

Burned Vamp in Alaska

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A/N: Dedicated to Bucky. Took long enough, ne?

* * *

So this is love? Emotionally abusing, pride demeaning pain? Is that why mom stayed with him for so long? Because... she loved him. Of course. It makes perfect sense.

In a totally fucked up sort of way.

All the years of bashing my body as he smashed my spirit. All the missed father and son picnics. Parent's day. Easter egg hunts.

Through it all, I gazed upon him with innocent, idolizing eyes, worshipping his god-like grace. My father was Zeus, watching his family from afar with a determined and loving vigil, making sure no misfortune befell them. The truth was I saw so little of him he might have been a passing shadow. So like all kids at that young and fragile age, I created a fantasy that was less painful than the reality.

He held the fortune of planets in his mighty hands. Civilizations once crumbled under his monstrous subjugation. He was the downfall of countless lives. My mother and I were no exception. 

Yes, how often _have_ I heard my mother crying late at night in her lab? Hunched over her drafting table, the blueprints soaked with her tears alone knew her sorrow. Until I discovered. When I was nine.

He regretted those precious few moments I cherished at the park. He regretted every slight show of emotion. He regretted.

And she paid the price.

***

"Get away from me, woman!"

Smack. Thud.

***

I honestly wish I could say he was as surprised as she was. I wish to Kami that was true!

I would've killed him if he touched her again.

No kid should ever have to witness his mom being hit. No kid should ever wait in the hall and watch her stand outside her bedroom door with a panicked breath and clenched fist. No kid should ever feel the fear radiating off his mother as she pushed open that door and flinched, stepping into the darkened room. Night. After night.

***

"Mom? I just need a hug."

***

I always checked her for bruises. Lucky for him I never found any more.

Yeah. So this is love. It wraps my mother in a cold blanket of dread and doubt. When you're that young you have to wonder if it's you that makes her pause a second before she opens her arms or if it's the man she sees in your face.

She cried all the time, but she never let him see. She never crawled or bent her will for his.

She was stronger than I.

***

"Hai, 'tousan?"

"Hn. Pathetic.

"Hai... 'tousan."

***

Goku had remained with the living these last years, finally giving my best friend a dad of his own, but he was always training. Hard to say who was luckier, Goten or I. We both envied each other's fathers for various reasons.

***

"Goku-san smiles."

"Yeah well, Vegeta-san stays home."

"Goku-san says nice things and gives us chocolate."

Goten admitted I had him there. "Does Vegeta-san even remember how to talk? Or has it been too long?" 

***

The chocolate, we found out much later, was a present for my mom. Nothing could make her smile like two sugar-high demi Saiya-jins running through the house building forts with blankets and toilet plungers, attacking the cats, and violating grandma's daffodils. Our post-pubescent spirits discovered that secret one night, while trying to uncover the unknown capabilities of grandpa's 'mini-bomb capsule.' Oh sure, we had a good idea as to what it did, but it needed to be tested... just to be sure.

***

"Bulma-chan, did you like my gift?"

Gift? What gift?

"Hai, Son-kun, I did. Although I'll wager, my house plants did not."

"It was a worthy sacrifice for your smile."

"Dude," Goten whispered to me, rather urgently, "is your mom shagging my dad!?"

"No, baka, they are best friends, don't you ever listen to their stories?" He shrugged. How could he not savor every word of their grand escapades? I looked at the pair again in their comfortable calm and noted that Goku-san spent more time here than at his home.

My dad came in then and glared at the two familiars.

"I thought you were gone, Kakarotto."

That was the most I'd heard him say in months. Then I saw Goku-san look up at my mom. She couldn't even look back. I guess the floor was fascinating for some reason, though I could not figure out why it would be.

It dawned on me then, that I was not the only one that suffered degradation under my father's scrutiny. My mother... For years. Not only the pain and sorrow, but... she was disgraced. This beautiful woman, intelligent, sweet, strong... was embarrassed!

"'Tousan..." My whisper betrayed our hiding spot.

"I think I'll stick around for a while." Goku-san glanced between us. He put his hand behind his head and giggled. "Besides, ChiChi's on the warpath again, and that's one battle I don't mind bowing out of."

My mother's soft reply lingered in the tension-laden room. "I'll go see to dinner." And she left, her gaze still boring into the floor. But I knew as soon as she was out of my father's sight, her head would raise.

"Goten, why don't you go help Bulma-san?"

"Hai, 'Tousan!" My friend was off, eagerly anticipating more 'tasting' than 'helping.' You didn't need to be a telepath to know that.

His glare was intense, his words few, and he turned away as he spoke them. "You should not be here. Remember that."

Goku-san was stunned. Those words weren't meant for him. They were mine alone.

"Trunks, what's going on?"

Even without being in the room, my father held the power of humiliation over me. Hanging my head in utter shame and defeat, I gave him the safest answer I knew. "Nothing, Goku-san."

When I raised my head I saw him studying me. His look was odd. He couldn't know... A man who lives in a world of perpetual happiness, carefree and unhindered... even from his own wife. How could he know? 

As the tears welled up in my eyes, his shot me concern. "Trunks..."

There was no way in hell that he could know OUR pain, so I turned my back to him and left the room. I had no idea really what he would say. What could he say? "Sorry your dad is an asshole?" We all know that. "Sorry you hurt?" Coming from HIM that would be a joke. The only thing that distresses him is missing a meal. "Sorry you and your mom are trapped in a world you can't escape from?" He can't understand. He doesn't.

I was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling when Goten came up twenty minutes later.

"Your mom kicked me out of the kitchen."

Of course she did.

"And there's no dessert for tonight."

I smiled. Of course there wasn't.

I turned admiring eyes to him. My best friend. The one person in the world I knew would never hurt me. We were the same person once.

He mistook my look.

"I swear, it wasn't me!" he cried out defensively. I laughed.

"Relax, Chibi! I was thinking of something else."

"Riiiiggghhhttt. Just remember, my dad is downstairs, too."

***

That night I had lain on my bed, thinking and thinking, when THE thought struck me. I knew why I was born. I knew why I lived. My mother needed a protector. A guardian angel. But I knew I wasn't by any means an angel.

So I became her Guardian Hellion.

My thoughts drifted again. Throngs of girls, rubbing my chest and back, cooing and purring at my new sexy handle, and I brushed them aside in a determined manner. "My family needs me, ladies." And I would be off, all the sexier for being sensitive.

I remember rolling to my side and realizing the darkened room was empty save for myself. I had closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of all the ways I was going to make my father pay for the misery he inflicted.

And pay dearly.

Unfortunately, high school teachers were not very sympathetic when it came to extracting revenge. The few spare moments I had my mom were done in study. I prepared my brain with her and classes, yet I prepared my body alone. Sometimes with Goten's help. But more often than not he was involved with one girl or another and couldn't be bothered with training.

Not that I blamed him. He had excellent taste in girls. But my mom was infinitely more important than any fling.

I pushed myself through honors courses. I never participated in extra-curricular activities and only attended the prom to please my mom. I haven't even seen my date since that night. Honestly, I can't even remember her name.

All the while, I watched my dad. He seemed to mellow, somewhat. Tension drained from him, day after day, month after month. It was early in my high school career that Bra was born. My mom had another reason to smile, and I saw the dread slowly leave her.

I also noticed their separate bedrooms.

We continued to see so little of him, I didn't think my efforts would be necessary. I trained, studied, and helped with Bra.

I resumed my training, just to be on the safe side.


	2. Chapter II

_Protecting Her_

Burned Vamp in Alaska

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When I discovered mom was pregnant I was shocked to all holy hell. She was so happy and I wasn't going to do anything to spoil it. I haven't seen her smile in a long time. I was curious as to whether she told dad, or if she was just gonna let him find out when she could no longer see her feet due to the ever expanding stomach. Until I felt the little ki, and knew without a doubt, he knew as well. Even this didn't change his attitude. Everything was going to have to be up to me. I needed to learn everything I could.

Okay, I admit during Sex Ed in Health class, I was a little pink faced, and I appeared before the School Board to ask for permission to participate in the women's section, learning about breast and cervical cancers and pregnancies. Immediately I was accused of being a perverted no-good hoodlum until my seven month pregnant mom waddled into the conference room to ask for a glass of water.

Every jaw hit the floor that day, and she smiled brightly as she greeted them. While she was attempting to sit down, the strain of the morning already wearing on her, everyone found themselves and appeared before her with offers of help, coffee, and anything else she might need. My 'desire to leer at the naked female body under an educational ruse' was not once mentioned to her, and they discreetly admitted me into the class. I told my mom I was asking for more science equipment for the labs and her charming smile won them over.

Goten was insanely jealous. Especially after he heard that half the girls in that class offered me some private, _in depth,_ study time. Who even had time for them? With a baby on the way, I had a lot of preparations to see to.

Dad certainly wasn't going to help her finish a nursery, drive her to the mall, and make her dinner when she just couldn't do anymore that day. She refused to let me be her coach for labor. I was too young. Fourteen wasn't too young, I thought. She needed me. But she wouldn't hear of it. I would have my chance one day with my wife, she often reminded me. So I remained out of the delivery room. And she did it alone. I would get my chance later.

Bra was four days late. I held the barely hour old newborn in my arms and watched her yawn then fall asleep. I remember thinking what a lazy baby she was. And as if mom was the psychic she claimed to be, she told me how tired the baby was.

***

"She's exhausted. She's had a long day, and a rough journey."

"Hn. Wait till you meet dad. It only goes downhill from here, kid."

***

I never remembered anything from when I was a baby, but looking at my new sister always made me wonder... Mom and dad were just starting out their relationship... was it always this rocky? Was there ever an easy moment in their life together? I couldn't remember. Somehow, I felt that by looking, just looking, into Bra's eyes... I would remember. I would find the answers I sought. As if she were some sort of Answer Guru with a spaghetti face and death grip and maybe if I said please and gave her ice cream I would get my answers.

Turns out it never works that way.

Mom and I had our own schedule. A family schedule. We would get up in the morning and I would go to school, she would take care of Bra. During naps, she would squeeze in some work. I would come home and take over Bra Patrol while she worked. Then after she went to bed, I studied and tried to pry what little 'mom time' I could from her busy work life. The weekends were our best days. We spent dawn till dusk playing and picnicing. Smiling and laughing.

Some days drug by slowly, the kind of days where you wondered why you got out of bed as you shuffled your feet along the school's carpet, when someone you never met came up and slapped you, making you wonder why you even bother living. The kind of days where everything that could happen that was not in your favor could, would, and did happen. But the look on that someone's face when you threw a punch, sending him barreling down the hall was worth it all... even the three day suspension for the fight you didn't start.

I spent those days off school, due to the suspension, taking care of Bra so mom could get a little bit ahead of her work. At the time I didn't understand what a punishment that truly was. I thought I was spending quality time with my sister. But eight solid hours of screaming, dirty diapers, flinging food, disgruntled tummies, cold teethers, chew toys, and blocks that leave those 'V' shaped marks in your forehead had me swearing I wouldn't end up in another fight so long as I lived. And gave me a new appreciation for my mom.

Kami... had I been like this?

***

"Mom? I'm soooo sorry."

"Why... what happened!?" I could hear panic start to creep into her voice.

"Nothing happened, I'm just sorry."

She glanced at the clock and realizing my shift was done, turned a beaming smile at me.

"Babies can't help the things they do, Trunks. You have no reason to be sorry."

I rubbed the 'V' mark on my forehead. "Yeah, well I am anyway."

And she laughed that bright, melodious laughter I thought would only be a memory for so long.

"I thought she took a nap."

"She does... didn't she for you?"

"No, not a wink," _little hellion._

"Did you sing her 'Little Bunny Blue Blue?'"

I must've looked really funny, because she laughed again. "Kami! I have to actually SING that stupid little song!?!?"

"Only way she goes to sleep."

***

Being a parent strips away all your dignity apparently. No wonder dad wanted no part of it.

But I am NOT my dad. I can handle this.

It wasn't long before Bra was on two feet, and making up sentences and words that were sensical only to her own little ears and the other toddlers we'd exposed her to in the parks and play groups.

Those young years disappeared like a star at daybreak, I awoke one morning and they were gone. I swear they were there a moment ago and I often wondered if I had done enough for my mom and sister. So I tried to do even more. At least once a week after school, I'd plan a special outing for the family.

Rainy weekends were spent inside performing for the blue haired brat. Yes, she was picky and spoiled, but when mom and I sang to her... those big blue eyes stared at me like there was nothing better in the world. I think it's rare that humans experience this feeling. Yes, I could move mountains, but Bra made me feel as though I could charm them away with a song.

We were the beginning and end of her world and she knew it. Those big eyes sparkled as we danced. She liked fast songs, music she could clap and laugh to. Her favorite songs she had us play over and over and was always pleased when mom and I made impromptu changes in movement.

I was in college when she turned five, but I always visited the weekends. Even sunny, we stayed indoors. Dancing. Singing. Bra now displayed herself on top of a table trying to be our height. Singing. Dancing.

***

_"Mama mia! Here I go again   
My my! How can I resist you?   
Mama mia! Does it show again?   
My my! Just how much I missed you"_

We flanked the table, mom and I, and followed in perfect sync with the others' playful movements. Bra always solos this stanza.

_"Yes, I'll be broken hearted   
Blue since the day we parted."_

She held her pose with clasped hands over her heart and we joined in again.

_"Why, why? Did I ever let you go?   
Mama mia! Now I really know   
My My! I could never let you go..."_

***

She still loves this song. And we still work perfectly. Together. As a family should...

Guilty? I suppose I felt that way. I mean, I did abandon them for school. She grew up so much while I was gone. I missed so much. I got her first step, first smile, first word, first tooth, first this, first that on VHS, DVD 35mm, Polaroid, and 3.5 inch floppy... but it wasn't so important that I was there for the first everything... I missed all the ones after that.

I'd always bring her presents when I came back, pretty things little girls love, stuff she could perform in or with. Feather boas. Sparkling bracelets. Dazzling sunglasses. Long necklaces. She would dance around, showing them off, as though she had a myriad of fans waiting on her every move. I didn't doubt that some day she might.

I didn't realize just how much I was missing out on, until one weekend when mom was working on an extensive project and Bra had another attachment to her life taking my spot. But that's not what I noticed at the time...


	3. Chapter III

_Protecting Her_

Burned Vamp in Alaska

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A/N: In case you can't tell, stuff between *** are flashbacks. This chapter starts out as a flashback.

A 2nd N: Mucho tacos to Bucky for giving me the idea for this ficcie and to BluEydMnstr for beta-ing it.

* * *

_"Oh oh... mama mia! Here I go again"_

I turned to the sound.

_"My my! How can I resist you?"_

My heart stopped.

_"Mama mia! Does it show again."_

Kami... she's... beautiful...

_"My my! Just how much I missed you."_

"Mom... who's that singing with Bra?"

***

One word from my mom changed the rest of my life.

***

"Marron."

Yes, I remember her, mother. Yes, Krillin's daughter. Yes... I want to spend the rest of my life with her.

***

She was beauty in simplicity. In my corporate world of expensively coiffed women, she had two dangling pony-tails that reminded me of a five year old Bra.

And big, blue eyes. Krillin's eyes with Juu's color and a smile so large, it must've called to angels. She wore a pink jumper with a white shirt, her slender legs bare and dancing around agiley. I wondered what her body was like hiding under those clothes and I grew warm thinking about it.

I remember it so well.

I remember the breath being knocked from me when she threw me a wink. I remember the breath I wanted to knock from Goten when she threw him one too.

He gave her that stupid grin. I needed to get things cleared up immediately.

***

"Goten."

"Yeah?"

"I want her."

He stopped watching them to look at me. I'm not surprised. If I got my way she would, essentially, be my first girlfriend. Although I hoped it didn't stop there.

***

He never said anything but nodded and patted my back. I had this feeling deep down, that I'd never had before with anyone. That she was supposed to be there for me until death do us part. And I wondered if she could feel that too. If she knew that.

Bra hadn't noticed that Goten and I had entered the room until the song had stopped. She always got so caught up in whatever she was doing, she was like mom that way. Once the music died out, she slowly dropped back into reality and launched straight at me, digging through my pockets to find whatever present I had brought back this time.

***

"Trunks! Where is it!? Was it too big to bring inside? You've been gone a long time, I deserve a special present!"

I picked her up and stood her on her table. Sadly I noticed how much taller she had gotten. How much time I missed. Time I could never get back again. I reached into my pocket for the little box and gave it to her. She snatched it from my grasp, nearly taking my hand along with it, and squealed delightedly when she saw its contents. I knew she would like it.

By the shocked gasp from Marron, I could tell she was impressed too. And that somehow meant a lot to me.

Goten looked over the girls' shoulders and gave a low whistle. "That's quite a chunk. Is there a band to go with that rock?" he chuckled.

"Trunks! It's the most gorgeous ring ever!! Marron!! Put it on me?? It's my most favorite color too!"

Marron took the ring from the box, staring at it momentarily in awe. I couldn't blame her. It's not every brother that buys their ten year old sister a real sapphire ring as a 'thinking of you' present.

"Perfect fit!"

At least that hadn't changed in the last few months.

Bra eyed the ring for a few final seconds before launching herself onto me again and wrapping me into a bear like grip that could only be called 'affectionate.' And just as tightly I hugged her back.

Goten opened his mouth then and asked the question I'd been dying to know the answer to ever since I walked into the room.

"So, what are you doing here, Marron?"

"Babysitting. I've been watching Bra since Trunks started college, and Bulma-san still insists that she needs an eye kept on her."

Bra grumbled. "Yeah, until I'm twelve, I gotta have a sitter. But Marron is cool, I don't mind so much as long as it's her."

"And Bulma-san is involved in a large project and wanted me to stay the week to take care of her. But now that you are home early from your trip, Trunks, I can probably leave..."

No, Marron! Stay!

"No, Marron! You have to stay!! We had so many plans! Trunks can join, too. Trunks, tell Marron she has to stay..."

I looked into those beautiful eyes and found myself sounding more insistent than I normally am. "If you leave, I'm going to have to put up with a ten year old temper. I guess you're staying."

Bra bounced off me and around Marron, singing and laughing. "Marron's staying! La la la la! Marron's staying!!"

Marron looked over at me, unsure of what to do or say, I could tell. Her face was so open, her emotions danced around like a little sister around her caretaker. She was confused.

"Are you sure?"

"Heck, yes, he's sure! Aren't you, Trunks?"

***

Oh yes, I was absolutely sure. I was never more sure of anything in my life. Marron had to stay. But it still took her a couple more hours to be convinced of it. I'd like to say that that week was the best of my life. But it wasn't. Kami, I've never been more scared of anything than that week.

What do I do? What do I say? Should I buy her presents? Flowers? Should I tell her how beautiful I find her, how much I feel for her?

It occurred to me then, that I'd had no experience with women. Not in my whole 24 years. Would an angel like Marron forgive me for that? Or would she prefer that I were a little more, well, 'experienced.' Did she want a man that knew what he was doing? As I watched her with Bra through that night, I knew she deserved a man that had all the answers, and as much as I'd hate the thought of her having to 'settle' with me, I didn't want her with anyone else.

So I went over the basics in my mind. She had to eat eventually, right? Dinner would be good. She's a good dancer, maybe a club or something? Turns out I needn't have worried. Marron and Bra had plans all right. Plans for every waking second, and they didn't include alone time for Marron and I. But I decided to latch on when I could; I mean Bra was there, so I had the perfect excuse. I was catching up with my little sister... while I was making my own plans for Marron. I stashed away safely all the little tid-bits I learned about her.

Much to my mom's displeasure, that meant skipping work when I thought a good opportunity to present myself would arise. But I think even then, she knew it was more for the blonde haired beauty than for my little sister, because she didn't protest too much. A little less than normal, actually.

And I think it made her happy. I knew she thought I took care of Bra more than I should've. She told me often enough that I needed to get out more. To be a kid, then be a young adult. Sow some oats, come home drunk, suffer some hangovers. But I couldn't abandon her.

I couldn't be my dad.

And as much as I hated my job, because let's face it... being cooped up in an office all day isn't my idea of paradise, it was our family's way of life. Our source of income, if you will, resided solely on my shoulders and my mother's. But it was worth it. Bra never went without anything she needed and hardly ever anything she wanted. Mom would be able to retire comfortably and without worry. Yes, life was good.

But when I set my sights on Marron, I realized how empty it was, too.

Each night I laid in bed, thinking of her, wishing she was there with me, to share the dark with. To be there when I woke in the morning. I wanted to rouse her out of bed with the scented promise of sizzling bacon and hot coffee. To see her hair in a delicious disarray that spoke volumes of the loving I would've put her through. Her cheeks flushed from exertion. Her lithe body swallowed by one of my work shirts.

Kami... I had to act fast or I was going to go crazy.

***

The week was over in two days. I stood in front of my mirror, alternating between clearing my throat and posing. First the look. Had to get down the "I'm-too-sexy-to-say-no-to" look.

"Marron? Marron. Marron...."

Hmmm. Okay, skip the look. What should I say?

"Marron? You've been spending an awful lot of time with Bra and I was wondering..."

Um, no. I sound like a whiner.

"Marron. You. Me. Friday night. Seven. I'll pick you up."

Ugh, how barbaric. I sound like a neanderthal with THAT one. Okay, close your eyes, Trunks. Think of her. Just think of those eyes. Now... what was it you wanted to say to her?

"Marron... you are the most beautiful, intelligent, wittiest, and amazing woman I've ever known... Please... have dinner with me this weekend? Man, that sounds corny."

"Actually... it wasn't corny at all... it was incredibly sweet."

I froze. I seem to do that a lot around her.

"And I would love to have dinner with you. Friday night. Seven."

I turned in time to see her standing in my open doorway and wink before she trotted off.

I bounced lightly in front of the mirror, checking myself out, and I couldn't resist clicking, pointing, and saying, 'you the man!' to congratulate myself. Much to my embarassement, I heard a chuckling voice from the hallway.

"Goodnight, Trunks, 'the man.'"

I ran to my door to see a sexy flannel clad derrier make its way down the hallway with two jaunty golden pig-tails bouncing against a tank top clad back. Feeling cheeky, I did what any normal, hormonal male would if they were me.

I wolf whistled.

She stopped. Then turned. And slowly made her way back to me, smiling. I couldn't move. And Kami knew I didn't want to. Especially when she moved up close to me, close enough to almost touch yet not, and whispered in my ear.

"Friday. Seven."

Then she kissed my cheek. A light press of those soft pale pink lips and I was in heaven. And I'd always imagined her to have a sort of fruity smell, like apples or strawberries, but it was cocoa butter and coconuts prevalent in the air about her. The exotic scent of heat and summer beaches. I reached out to pull her into my arms for a real kiss but she was gone.

I opened my eyes, barely registering that they had been closed, and she was halfway down the hall. Not even looking back. 

***

I knew without a doubt then, that I was in love...

* * *

I'd like to thank my reviewers...

**TG** - Thanks and here's your next chapter! Duh... *smacks self* *smiles* Enjoy!

**Pareathe** - Heheheee, almost antisocial maybe, but still an incredible hottie *drools* I can so see Trunks giving himself the 'I'm the man!' speech to the mirror...

**Bucky** - I'm glad you're enjoying this, I'm starting to, actually as well, and I really started getting into it with the entrance of Marron... some surprise twists coming up, so I hope you hang in there! And of course, I can't *say* anything that wouldn't give it away, so you'll just have to wait *evil cackle* And thanks for all the wonderful praise on my writing abilities. Not nearly as well deserved as others are, but thank you ^.^

**Elven Princess Elwing** - I'm glad you luv it! ^.^ Thank you for your read and review!

**piccolosfire** - Vegeta's always been a hard one for me, that's why I haven't done very many b/v. Or any. *cough cough* But I digress... thanks for picking me up, and I'm glad you are enjoying the show!

**lil' Chi Chi** - It has always been my assumption that a PG warning was higher than a PG-13. PG stands for 'parental guidance.' And with a PG-13 it's for under 13 years. With a PG there's no age given so I assume that it's meant for all ages of children. MY MISTAKE. I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of it though.

**BluEydMnstr** - Thanks for the review even though you READ it before anyone else did. *Makes mental note* Now that's personal isn't it?

**LilPanny-chan** - Although it may sound as accurate as possible, it's all made up. I chose to pair Trunks with Marron to try to be as accurate as possible. But, remember... it didn't really happen this way, but I'm glad it sounded good enough to... Thanks for the compliments! ^.^

**SaiyaSith** - Thanks so much for the read and review! ESPECIALLY the review part *wink*

**Sue** - Oooohhhh just you wait *grins* Thanks for the review!

**Starr** - Thanks for the email with TDOML... what's going to happen there!?!? UGH!! Anyway, just you wait.... more love and stuff to come!


	4. Chapter IV

Protecting Her

Chapter IV

AN: This story was not far from the point I wanted to reach. I make no apologizes for being lazy...

I'M SORRY! WAH!!!!

It was only a year, four months, and two days after that night I first asked out Marron that I discovered the truth behind my parents' relationship. Why she stayed... why he stayed away.

My first dinner with Marron. I wanted it to be special and romantic. Relaxed and poignant. It was anything BUT.

Awkward was the most accurate description. I tripped over my own feet no less than seven times, hers no less than ten, my tie has permanent wrinkles from wringing it nervously, and my clothes have food and wine stains that will stick around longer Goten on buffet night at China Kingdom.

Disasterous.

But she laughed. All night. It was melodious and sent shivers down my body. And at the end of the night, oh the grateful end, when I thought that I would never have another chance again, we shared our first real kiss.

I'd been too stupid to realize that she'd been laughing with me, not at me. I had already known that I was going to make her mine. With that kiss, she also knew she was. And that was the start of a beautiful relationship.

Or so I thought...

"Who was that?"

Marron blinked at me. "Who was who?"

"THAT," I pointed to the guy that had winked at her as he left the bookstore she worked at.

"I dunno, just a customer I guess..."

I wanted to ask more questions. DESPERATELY. Like why in the hell did she let him flirt with her when she knew she was mine!? But even though I kept my mouth shut, my temper would not so easily behave.

It was hard not to notice that I was upset, and my ire kept me from seeing the alarm on my mother's gentle face right then.

That night, as I lay in bed alone and mentally ran through the day, something nagged at me. There was something important that I was missing. My thoughts turned to my mother and I caught her concerned glances during several replays.

What was it that I was missing?

The next morning, after only about four hours of sleep, I realized that even if I didn't show it as much as I could have, I was still acting like a jerk. I wanted to make up for it.

So I had flowers sent to both Marron and my mom, to apologize. I didn't know at the time that this was the start of a pattern. I knew I wasn't going to be the only one that found Marron attractive, and I also knew that she never participated in any actual flirting with any one but me.

But when another man just looks at your woman in that way, and you can see in his eyes exactly what he sees, and it's not that pink jumper... Aren't you within your rights to defend your territory?

A year, four months, and two days...

My mother... crouched next to Marron on the floor trying to stop the flow of blood from the pert little nose I so often placed kisses upon... the trembling hands that my hands alone knew the softness of grasping at the blackening eye... still there was no fear there.

That was all I knew before pain exploded in my own face and after flying through nearly every wall in the house, I finally landed in the garden. Goku-san looked down on me.

"Trunks? What's going on? Vegeta and I felt your ki spike and..."

And my father phased in before me. I have never seen him so angry.

"You foolish bastard! These humans are weak!"

I don't know what made me stop and think instead of yelling at him for getting his hypocritcal ass involved. But I did. I wanted to stand up and punch him back, and scream at him for years of neglect and abuse... But he only hit mom once. And he stayed away.

Oh, Kami... he stayed away.

It was with new eyes that I looked up at him with. And then I knew that I never truly felt shame until I had at that moment.

Saiyans are full of pride and honor. And there was no honor in harming a mate. It was not with disdain that my father spoke when he says that humans are weak. It was a fact. They are weak and prone to pain easily.

A fact my father found out first hand. Saiyan women would be stronger, they would not be so intellectually inclined and would have the same fighting interests as their male counterparts. There would not be the same complications as choosing a human mate. Frustration.

He stayed away... instead of chancing another incident on the woman he loved, and yes... he did love my mother... he stayed away. He never wanted to hurt her. And mom... loved him. She loved him and stayed!

I looked at Goku-san. There was understand in his eyes. He knew. He was always around... to let my dad beat on him... so my dad wouldn't have to fight his own instincts and accidentally hurt mom again...

All these years... I thought he didn't care.

Oh, Kami... Marron! What have I done??

Today is the fifth anniversary of that day. Marron forgave me, as did my mother. Bra never found out. And dad...

Well, I guess you could call the sparring we do together now "family quality time." I'm learning that it's just part of what goes into protecting her... from ourselves.


End file.
